Friday, November 18, 2016

North Carolina: Corques Johnson charged with animal cruelty after starving and dead dogs found

NORTH CAROLINA -- The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Hollister man with multiple counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals after three dogs were found dead on his property.

Two fieldworkers for the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called Halifax County Animal Control and reported they found multiple dead or starving animals on Corques Lamar Johnson’s property near Medoc Mountain Road.

David Perle, PETA senior media coordinator, said a total of eight animals, mostly pit bull terriers, were found on the rural Halifax County property. Only five were still alive.

Once animal control agents and sheriff deputies arrived, PETA worked with them to remove the dogs from the site.

“A preliminary necropsy report of the three deceased dogs revealed starvation and dehydration as the cause of death,” Perle said.

Of the surviving animals, he said, three were gaunt and starving while none had access to food or water.

Johnson was arrested and charged with six counts of misdemeanor cruelty to animals and held under a $1,000 bond. His bond was posted on Nov. 2 and he has a Nov. 29 court date.

Robert Richardson, Halifax County Animal Control supervisor, explained though eight animals were on site, only the condition of six warranted charges.

“We took all the animals because you don’t want to leave a decent looking animal in a situation where someone is going to be charged with animal cruelty,” he said. “If you’ve seen different stages of animals dying, they won’t be left there so why leave (the healthy animals) behind.”

PETA provided foster care for four of the surviving animals until healthy enough to be turned over to the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Perle noted.

Animal control often works with PETA in these situations, Richardson said, because his department simply doesn’t have the resources to patrol the county.

“Right now we’re just responding to complaints,” he said.

But in an organized effort among PETA, his department and the sheriff’s office, Richardson said PETA workers can go out to do checks across the county and relay instances of animal cruelty to authorities.

Initiatives like this are essential, Richardson noted, because he’s noticed an uptick of animal cruelty cases across the county this year. The united front of the three organizations should help lower the number of instances.

“We’ve started to see a lot more, we’ve started prosecuting a lot more in courts and getting good results,” he said. “The judicial system has woken up and seen it’s a problem, and started acting accordingly.

Update: No they're not. People always get charged with animal cruelty. The problem is: they give EVERYONE PROBATION. Rarely, if ever, does someone go to jail or prison for doing this to animals - slowly starving them to death. This guy got probation.

We have a good relationship with the district attorney’s office, the judges recognize it and when we have a whole system working together we can accomplish this goal.”